Anyone had experience with voodoo?

Yes I have experience, and no voodoo does not work. If you need to release anger in a physical act, my suggestion is kickboxing, running, punching bag, etc.

I agree. Some good old muscle abuse should help.
I would be mighty surprised if you could inflict any harm whatsoever on someone with voodoo.

I’ve been hiking, running, going to the gym, and doing yoga a lot recently, but that hasn’t been cutting it. Maybe I should try something more…aggressive like kickboxing. Thanks for the tips.

A punching bag is the best for these situations. I feel like my old one saved many people from a good ‘ole hurtin back some time ago.

Just write a letter and vent everything, then burn it. The act of burning it can be your way of putting it behind you and not allowing the person to control your emotions any longer. Adopting a ritual of a religion you don’t subscribe to seems odd and somehow disrespectful.

Kickboxing, punching bag, anything physical and aggressive. That’s exactly what you need now.

I agree with these folks. Voodoo is an obvious superstition, and magick is not real. unless you could get that person to climb in a box and then you could saw them in half.

Unless you know what you’re doing, voodoo is a very bad idea. You could end up hurting yourself and others or nothing could happen at all. Personally, I do not know how effective using voodoo is unless you are a practitioner. You should just stay away from it altogether. The other suggestions of getting out and doing some hardcore physical activity is a good way to get your anger out.

@evelyns_pet_zebra: I’m surprised at your narrow-minded answer. With all due respect, just because you do not agree with or believe in it does not mean it cannot be real.

@KatawayGrey
I am not mocking you with this. But one thing I have a problem with understanding is henotheistic christians. It’s such a paradox in itself, but yet very common.

I don’t see how spirit magic would be real, but I would welcome proof of that it is. So lets get it. If you know of a “real” black voodoo priest, I seriously would welcome if you could give me the contact info. I would like to ask him to kill me, voodoo style. I can send hairs, blood or anything to him/her. Probably it would cost a lot of money. For some reason, people with great powers often seem to need money.

I am quite serious. If you are right and I am wrong, we will both learn something extraordinary. If it would cost me my life, it would be worth it. But I bet you my life, that you are wrong.

Haha that is true @oratio

@oratio: I don’t know any real voodoo priests or any practitioners. I have not seen proof of voodoo spirit magic but that does not mean it doesn’t exist. I have never seen China either. However, I know a number of people who claim to have been born in China and who claim that the sounds they make sometimes are Chinese. I have no proof that these people are actually speaking a language or that they are from where they say they are from. Yet, there seems to be a great number of people who have “proof” that China and Chinese culture and language are real. It is the same with voodoo. I have no proof that it is not real.

Also, what’s a henotheistic christian?

I actually want to do this now. Now, finding a voodoo doctor in sweden would probably be like finding snow in Sahara. If anyone knows of a real black voodoo priest, it would be great. I don’t feel like going to the everglades but I would if that is necessary. Nigerian Vudun works as well.

@KatawaGrey
Oh. It’s when you believe in one true god but admitting or accepting the existence of other gods. I am not saying you are a henotheist, I don’t really know what you believe, but many are.

@oratio: Come to the states. If you can’t find one in Mississippi or Luoisiana, we’re a stone’s throw from Haiti. I’m sure there are other Caribbean islands where voodoo is practiced extensively. Also, while I know very little about voodoo, I am given to understand that if you were to be killed in a voodoo ritual, you would not be killed by supernatural or magical means. Instead, you would be a sacrifice of some kind. I am unsure of this, however.

I’m actually not a Christian, but that is an interesting term to learn.

Actually impact sports only build aggression. Because what you are doing is stopping fluid motion. Think about hitting a punching bag. You build up your anger you move your arm and then it is stopped by the punching bag. It causes your body to react by building more aggression. What actually helps is circular motions. Bicycling and swimming are good examples. That is on the sports end.

It sounds to me though as if you need a mental release of your aggression. The first way to help yourself with this is to find out what is behind the anger. Anger is a “cover-up” emotion. It is usually covering up some kind of hurt. So even though we hate doing this, as humans, you should identify that hurt very specifically. Then write about it. Do something to get it out of you. That is step one.

I also find your question very intuitive. Rituals are very healthy and help many many people. I might be able to help think of a good ritual more if I knew your circumstance.
Perhaps you could create a hypothetical circumstance similar to what you are dealing with and we could help you think of a productive ritual.

And to answer your question. No experience with voodoo. I don’t think you should get involved with that because the more negative energy you put out the more that comes back to you. It is really quite scary.

@KatawaGrey Interesting. Yes, you are right in that spiritual magic can’t be proven not to exist, for the same reasons god can’t be disproved. And you are right in that (this is what I read into what you said) much of what we take for granted as fact is something we take on faith.

But then again, anything that can’t be seen, heard or sensed in any way, cannot be disproved. Neither can it be proved. It takes faith to make that real, and relying on faith in this way, can make anything real.

I don’t mean to show you disrespect and I don’t think it’s wrong to be spiritual. But reading the horoscope for entertainment and live your life according to it, are different things.

This might have been more suited in it’s own thread. I’m sorry I mess up this thread a bit.

@oratio: I take no offense at all. I will respond to your post in greater detail later though because I have class now. I just want you to know that I’m ignoring you. :)

@KatawaGrey Ha ha. Good. I respect you for that :).

@KatawaGrey, Well, as a skeptic, I get called narrow minded rather often, it comes with the territory. Magic cannot be proven as real, it has never held up under strict scientific controlled testing, and it is correctly classified as pseudo or junk science. What voodoo priests do involves a use of drugs and hallucinogens, these are chemicals, not magic. Might as well believe that homeopathic medicine is REAL medicine.

If you believe in it, fine, but that doesn’t prove anything. I respect your right to believe in anything you please. A lot of people believe in ghosts, too, and I don’t think they are real either, simply because there is no verifiable scientific proof of ghosts. None.

@RedPowerLady Your ideas regarding fluid motion are intriguing but I can’t follow your train of thought regarding its justification. Do you have any support for your claim regarding circular motions being better for alleviating aggression?

@dynamicduo
Yes. I posted it in a different thread so I didn’t type it all out on this one. Lazy me.
Here let me find it for you.

@RedPowerLady I agree. Interesting line of thought.

@dynamicduo You know I learned this in my Master’s Education program for Mental Health Counseling. I did find my old post but it doesn’t provide any journal articles or links.
http://www.fluther.com/disc/39384/how-do-you-process-rage/

If you could think of the appropriate search times you might be able to find the “proof”. I can’t think of any valuable search terms myself and fully trust that Master’s Program and the woman who taught me this. She is a counselor herself as well as an educator. It also makes common sense to me. But if you do search and find anything let me know so I can bookmark it. Sorry I wasn’t able to find it for you.

@oratio: I meant to say that I wasn’t ignoring you, first of all, but I guess you figured that out. You used the horoscope as an example. Personally, I don’t hold much stock in the horoscope. I’m not going to say it’s not real, it just doesn’t jive with me and my personal belief system. There are many paths of spirituality but because each path has it’s own set of rules, punishments, rewards and the like, it’s silly to try and compare them all. That’s why it is so hard for people of different belief systems to have a debate. A lot of the time, it’s like one person is going, “the sky is blue!” and the other person responds, “but the car is red!” That which I define as proof is different than that which you define as proof. At best, we can try and explain to each other our different views while also explaining the rules we follow.

@evelyns_pet_zebra: Before I make this statement, I just want you to know that I respect you immensely and the following comment is in no meant to offend you.

I’ve noticed that an awful lot of people of science make blanket statements saying certain things aren’t possible because science hasn’t proved it. The ancient Greek Democritus said that the world was made of little things called atoms. Everyone said he was crazy because he had no proof. He was proved right through science two thousand years later. Just because science hasn’t proven the existence of something does not mean it does not exist by scientific standards.

@KatawaGrey I’ve noticed that an awful lot of people of science make blanket statements saying certain things aren’t possible because science hasn’t proved it. The ancient Greek Democritus said that the world was made of little things called atoms. Everyone said he was crazy because he had no proof. He was proved right through science two thousand years later. Just because science hasn’t proven the existence of something does not mean it does not exist by scientific standards.

I didn’t even read what you were responding too. But I have noticed this as well. And I just wanted to give you props for verbalizing something I’ve noticed and for providing an excellent example.

@KatawaGrey No ha ha, I didn’t get that. I thought you gave me a slap on the fingers.

Ah well, I used the horoscope less as an example and more like a metaphor, Bad choice maybe. What I meant is that I don’t think it’s a good idea to be afraid of, or form one’s life and decisions after something that may or may not exist.

Yup, very true. I agree to that comparing belief systems and try to convince each other of that what you believe is better is kind of futile, since true conviction comes from your own conclusions.

I don’t want to change your mind really. Your mind seems more than fine and capable of reason.

I just find that big parts of the population of the world believes in the most amazing things. From demons, evil spirits to the John Frum cult(One of the cargo cults). I don’t see that believing in spirit magic has ever done anything productive more than bring people together in fear of the unknown.

I know people from the cultures of the original voodoo, vudun(Togo, Benin, Nigeria), and I have to say, that it is very similar to old swedish beliefs in many ways, and the rune magic that was alive all the way up to the 1800’s. But the world view some of these people have, scares me. There are spirits everywhere, good and bad. There are parts of the forest in Nigeria where people will not go, because of the evil spirits there.

If you believe in a magic spirit world, I guess it works for you. And that’s good.

As you say, there are many things we cannot prove that may exist. There is little we know about anything really. We don’t understand how the brain works, haven’t really understood how human cells work, most of the universe eludes our understanding.

I kind of regret starting this. I have a beef with religion in general, and giving credit to something like voodoo or santeria makes me somewhat depressed. But that is not your problem.

i agree with @RedPowerLady.

some sort of study was conducted that showed that physically taking your anger out was a lot less ineffective than taking it out mentally, and could even accentuate your anger. although if that’s what you feel like you need to do, and it works for you, go for it.
one of the reasons taking things out physically seems to work may be that exercise in general is proven to make you feel better. you may attribute that better mood to taking your anger out on a punching bag instead of the asshole’s face, but in reality i think it’s just that exercise is really good for…feeling good. haha

@KatawaGrey I respect you immensely as well, and am not trying to offend you either but in response to the I’ve noticed that an awful lot of people of science make blanket statements saying certain things aren’t possible because science hasn’t proved it. The ancient Greek Democritus said that the world was made of little things called atoms. Everyone said he was crazy because he had no proof. He was proved right through science two thousand years later. Just because science hasn’t proven the existence of something does not mean it does not exist by scientific standards.

While this is true, it doesn’t mean every nutjob with an outrageous view or opinion is correct. Intelligent Design proponents, i.e. Creationists use that very same argument all the time. While the final verdict may not be in on the facts of voodoo and whether science has ultimately proved whether it is real or not, I am of the opinion that it isn’t real at all. yes, I realize the irony of stating an opinion right after speaking about nutjobs with opinions. Like gods, should the true existence of voodoo be proved beyond the shadow of a doubt, then I will have to accept it and change my position on the matter. To do otherwise would be arrogant.

@evelyns_pet_zebra: I do understand what you’re saying and I know where you’re coming from, but the issue I have with your need for something to be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt is that you have very specific criteria that need to be met. Practitioners of voodoo have different criteria. Christians have different criteria from that. Read my previous post to oratio. You are trying to prove that the sky is blue and I am trying to prove that the car is red. I have different criteria for what I consider proof of something than you do. Neither of us is wrong, and it is not necessary that only one of us be right.

@KatawaGrey So let’s leave it at that. I’d hate to lose a friend over something as silly as a disagreement.

Why didn’t anybody suggest having sex with the guy’s best friend?

Voodoo is nonsense and dangerous. My advice: stay away from it. I agree with @BBSDTfamily – Kickboxing, running and punching bags is a much better choice.

Haha @fireside very funny. Also very dangerous and vindictive.

Besides his best friends has a girlfriend and lives 500 miles away, that would be quite the maneuver!_

I used to buy a boxful of cheap plates at a yard sale or Goodwill, run to the corner of my garage, and throw and/or smash them with all my might. Later make a mosaic tray or something that you can put that anger away into forever.